The Poway City Council will decide next week whether to rip the poles and cameras from the three intersections in town where they have been flashing their strobes since 2005.

The council suspended the camera enforcement program seven months ago, at the suggestion of Mayor Don Higginson. All the cameras were deactivated and covered with gray plastic.

Since then, accidents at the three intersections have actually decreased, according to city engineers who are now recommending the cameras be pulled altogether.

During the six month period before the cameras were turned off, there were a total of eight accidents at the intersections, according to a memo prepared for Tuesday’s council meeting by Robert Manis, the city’s director of development services.

In the six months since the turnoff date, there have been five accidents.

“While a six-month period is a brief period of time to evaluate the accident data, it is clear the removal of the red light cameras has not had a negative effect on accidents at these three intersections,” Manis wrote.

The cameras have been unpopular for years, mainly because people were often issued tickets after making legal right turns on red lights or for inching across a stop line.

Statistics showed that while T-bone accidents decreased at camera-controlled intersections, the number of rear-end accidents increased as people slammed on their brakes and were hit from behind.

If Poway does vote to end its association with camera provider Redflex Traffic Safety, it will join other cities such as Escondido, San Diego and El Cajon, which have all eliminated red-light camera enforcement this year.